A two-step optimization for crankshaft counterweights

The optimization of industrial products and processes has been, since the beginning of the third industrial revolution, a fundamental aspect of the design phase as it allows, together with the testing and validation phases, the improvement of the performance or efficiency of what has been designed. Optimization is also applied to the counterweights of the crankshafts that ensure the balancing of the forces and moments generated by internal combustion engines during their regular use. Traditionally, this process is carried out, at the preliminary stage, in an analytical way, using specific formulas for each engine configuration. This approach, however, allows the identification of only the macro-parameters of the counterweight, i.e. mass and position of the center of gravity, leaving the designer the translation into technical drawing of the result of the optimization. Thanks to the increase in computational power obtained in recent decades and the interconnection of systems, typical of Industry 4.0, this work intends to propose a new methodology for optimizing counterweights, based on a two step approach, able to identify the best solution not only in terms of macro-parameters, but also of the specific dimensional parameters of the counterweight.